


Seventy Six Days

by ProblemWithTrouble



Series: Pacific Rim [23]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Post-Movie: Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 17:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20660807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProblemWithTrouble/pseuds/ProblemWithTrouble
Summary: “They want you dead, Herm.”“That doesn’t matter. They’re gone now. You would never hurt me.”“We can’t know that. I’m the only person who’s ever been possessed by an alien hivemind. We don’t know.” Newt could feel the mess of emotions he was feeling start to close up his throat. This is why he had been avoiding Hermann. He didn’t want to talk about this. He didn’t want Hermann to know just how afraid he was.





	Seventy Six Days

Newt had been officially Precursor free for seventy-six days and fifteen hours. If he thought about it hard enough he could probably get down to the minute but it wasn’t important. At the sixty day mark he had been moved out of his cell and into quarters. Directly across from Nate, next door to Jake’s new room, and two hallways from Hermann’s. He knew the other rooms near his were probably security surveillance that kept an eye on his comings and goings and maybe had his room bugged. But honestly, it felt like more of a comfort than a violation.

He needed people watching him, when people weren’t watching he became the puppet of genocidal aliens hellbent on human destruction. It was nice to know that if he started to act out of character again _someone_ would notice. 

But he didn’t. Sure it was out of character for the him of a decade ago but he had a new normal. Now he had four alarms to make sure he got up on time but always got up after the second one. He ate food that was as balanced as one could get in the cafeteria, went to therapy once a week, and he avoided being alone with Hermann at all costs. 

He hadn’t spoken to Hermann since the day that he had been let out of his cell. Not that Hermann hadn’t tried but he was also easy to avoid when one had no shame. Newt had no problem just walking away whenever Hermann got too close to him, sure Hermann followed but usually only for a few steps before he gave up; he had dignity. 

Newt was comfortable in his bed after working on an inverse breach that would allow things with Earth signatures to pass through but nothing from the other side for nearly ten hours with a team that double checked all his work to make sure he wasn’t in the process of screwing everyone over again. He had music on and was playing a brightly colored and mindless puzzle game on his phone when there was a knock on his door. 

He didn’t need to get up to know that it was Hermann. There was no one else who would visit him and Newt had been forced to evade him three times that day. He didn’t expect that he would be able to get out of this one by pretending that he wasn’t home. Nate was a bit of a snitch. 

He got up and opened the door a crack. “What do you want, Hermann?”

“I need to speak to you,” Hermann said.

“Well, I don’t want to talk,” Newt said and started to shut the door. 

Hermann shoved the end of his cane in the door to stop it from shutting. “This is serious, Newton.”

“Fine.” Newt opened the door wider but didn’t move out of the way. “Talk.”

“Do you really want to have this conversation in the hall?”

“What conversation?” 

“The one regarding why you have been avoiding me for weeks on end,” Hermann said.

“I haven’t been avoiding you,” Newt shot back. 

Hermann just fixed him with a look. 

“Fine, I’ve been avoiding you. Who cares?” 

“I care. And I want to know why.” Hermann stood tall and looked ready to fight. Jake chose that moment to leave his room and looked at them as he locked the door behind him. 

“Everything alright?”

“Fine,” Hermann and Newt answered in unison. 

Jake nodded once and looked to be barely holding back his giggles as he turned away. 

“Come in,” Newt sighed dramatically. He flopped back down on his bed and waited for Hermann to sit at the desk but instead he sat directly next to Newt, their knees brushing. Newt scooted away until there was a good foot between them and then stared straight ahead. 

“Why are you avoiding me, Newton? Have I done something?”

“Of course not,” Newt said with a sigh. He really didn’t want to be having this conversation. 

“Then what is it?” 

“Just leave it. We didn’t talk for more than five years and you were fine with that so just-”

“No, I wasn’t but if you remember your alien hivemind counterparts weren’t letting you take my calls, Newton. I won’t let you pull away from me again.”

“What if that’s what I want though?”

“Why would it be something you’d want if I haven’t done anything? You never used to have any problem telling me what it was that I had done to upset you,” Hermann argued, twisting on the bed to look at Newt. 

Newt still wouldn’t look back. “Dude, just let it go. It doesn’t matter.” 

“Of course it matters,” Hermann said as he reached for Newt’s hand that was on the bed. 

Newt tore his hand away and sprung off the bed to stand against the wall. “Don’t touch me!” 

Hermann’s concern was plain on his face as he whispered, “Newton.” 

“Go,” Newt said, his voice breaking a little. He could feel his whole body shaking and tears were starting to burn his eyes. 

“What have I done?” Hermann asked, tears filling his own eyes.

“Hermann. Please. You know how much I hate saying please so just go,” Newt said.

“Why?”

“It’s not safe.”

“What?”

“They want you dead, Herm.” 

“That doesn’t matter. They’re gone now. You would never hurt me.”

“We can’t know that. I’m the only person who’s ever been possessed by an alien hivemind. We don’t know.” Newt could feel the mess of emotions he was feeling start to close up his throat. This is why he had been avoiding Hermann. He didn’t want to talk about this. He didn’t want Hermann to know just how afraid he was. “I almost killed you, Hermann. And if you give me the chance I might again. So just go!” Newt yelled. 

“No. I’m not afraid. We can’t go on living our lives in fear that they may come back,” Hermann said, standing up from the bed and going to where Newt was still pressed against the wall. “I won’t abandon you again.”

“It’s not abandonment if I ask you to go.”

“You won’t hurt me. Even if they were back, I doubt I would be the first priority.”

“They _hate_ you.”

“The feeling is mutual. And the fact that they have taken you from me again even when they’re gone, is not helping their case,” Hermann said.

Newt gave a watery laugh. Hermann reached out for Newt’s hand again, slower this time but Newt still pulled away, but less violently, like he didn’t want to but _had to_. “I’m afraid to touch you. Like it’ll break a dam and they’ll be front and center trying to kill you again.”

“Let them try. Jake has been teaching me some self defense tactics.” 

Newt laughed again. “I bet. He did always like you more.” 

Hermann laughed, smile breaking wide. “I’ve missed you.” 

“Me too. Wanna watch a movie? I’ve got ten years of pop culture to catch up on.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Hermann said. He didn’t try to touch Newt again as they settled next to each other on the bed, the laptop on Newt’s lap, which Newt was grateful for. There was a part of him that had raged against his self imposed fate of never hanging out with Hermann again and was thrilled to be watching a movie with him. There was another part that was still afraid that if they spent too much time together the Precursors would be back in an instant and kill Hermann before Newt could do a thing about it. 

About twenty minutes into the movie, of which Newt had not been paying any attention to, he decided to listen to the part of him that wasn’t so much of a coward and leaned his head down on Hermann’s shoulder. 

In the reflection of the screen he saw Hermann smile before resting his head on Newt’s.

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "OMG you take prompts? That's so exciting!!!!! Prompt for PR H/N: I’m afraid to touch you."


End file.
